Layer upon layer of London soil reveals burials from prehistoric, pagan, Roman, medieval, and modern times in this history, the first in Catharine Arnold's London trilogy. The city is viewed as one giant grave: the Houses of Parliament sit on the edge of a former plague pit; St. Paul's was built over human remains; and subway tunnels were driven through forgotten catacombs thick with bones. Blending archaeology, architecture, and anecdote, Arnold unearths such phenomena as the rise of the undertaking trade and the pageantry of state funerals; public executions and bodysnatching; and the men and women who featured in this dark aspect of London life, from the mysterious Spitalfields woman to Samuel Pepys, from tragic Anne Boleyn to Diana, Princess of Wales.